# Shit. Now, We've Got an Ebola Outbreak **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649 "2005-05-19T22:33:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/1 "2005-05-19T22:33:58Z")
[In the Congo.](http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/6e1cb9c6e7509dbe546bcd5d7ca00c24.htm) > [@](#): > > An outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever in the Republic of Congo’s Cuvette-Ouest Region is the deadly Ebola disease, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Wednesday. > > By Tuesday, WHO said, a total of 11 cases, among them nine deaths, had been reported in the districts of Etoumbi and Mbomo. Of these cases, one case was laboratory-confirmed and 10 epidemiologically linked. > > Two research facilities in the neighbouring Gabon, the Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, confirmed Ebola haemorrhagic fever in one sample, WHO said. > > It said 81 contacts were being monitored; 68 in Etoumbi and 13 in Mbomo. > > WHO added that the Ministry of Health, the WHO Regional Office for Africa and the medical NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières-Holland, were carrying out surveillance, following up contacts and raising awareness about the disease among the public in the affected districts. > > The deaths from Ebola have occurred since 27 April in Etoumbi and Mbomo districts. > > There is no known cure for Ebola, which is transmitted via infected body fluids and kills 50 percent to 90 percent of its victims, depending on the strain. The disease damages blood vessels and can cause bleeding, diarrhoea and shock. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it looks like the [Marburg outbreak in Angola **isn’t** getting better.](http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19264652.htm) > [@](#): > > Marburg fever has killed more than 300 people in Angola, mainly through exposure to the deadly virus at home and at funerals, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. > > The United Nations agency said Angolan health officials had reported 337 cases since late last year, 311 of them fatal. > > The vast majority of cases have been in the northern province of Uige, epicentre of the world’s worst outbreak of the Ebola-like disease. “No cases have been reported outside Uige for the past five weeks,” the WHO said in a statement. > > Despite better infection control at Uige hospital and collection of unsafe syringes in homes, new cases “continue to be linked to exposure in homes and at funerals, indicating that public understanding of the disease still needs to be improved”, it said. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/2 "2005-05-19T23:32:24Z")
Keep…them…off…the…airlines. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/3 "2005-05-20T00:00:26Z")
Man, that’s some horrible virus. What I want to know is if it’s that contagious, why hasn’t it already sparked an epidemic ala Captain Tripps? All it would take is for someone to hop on a plane and sneeze a few times–what am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/4 "2005-05-20T00:02:32Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Man, that’s some horrible virus. What I want to know is if it’s that contagious, why hasn’t it already sparked an epidemic ala Captain Tripps? All it would take is for someone to hop on a plane and sneeze a few times–what am I missing? 3 reasons. It’s spread by blood, & possibly other body fluids, & 2, the victims live in remote areas. And 3, the victim dies before he can get too far. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/5 "2005-05-20T00:09:17Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Man, that’s some horrible virus. What I want to know is if it’s that contagious, why hasn’t it already sparked an epidemic ala Captain Tripps? All it would take is for someone to hop on a plane and sneeze a few times–what am I missing? Ever read _The Hot Zone_? It’s very nearly happened. In one instance, in Africa, they put a patient on a plane, knowing that he was sick, but **not** knowing what was wrong with him, the goal was to get him to a major city with a decent hospital. Amazingly enough, even though he was in the grips of the illness, filling the air sickness bags with the vomited remains of his organs, no one on the plane came down with the illness. Even someone who shared a drink with another victim didn’t contract the disease. While we know **some** of the methods of transmission (blood), we don’t know all of them, and we don’t even know what animal hosts the disease has. The great horror of the disease is so much of it is a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/6 "2005-05-20T00:21:23Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > And 3, the victim dies before he can get too far. This is a trait of poor viability, an organism that kills it’s host before it can reproduce & infect another host. If only ebola would just evolve a little patience, maybe develop a thicker casing so it can resist desication allowing it to linger on frequently touched surfaces; and learn to utilize the upper respiratory system. Now there would be an organism worthy of the destruction of the known world! I for one would welcome…never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/7 "2005-05-20T00:23:13Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > This is a trait of poor viability, an organism that kills it’s host before it can reproduce & infect another host. If only ebola would just evolve a little patience, maybe develop a thicker casing so it can resist desication allowing it to linger on frequently touched surfaces; and learn to utilize the upper respiratory system. Now there would be an organism worthy of the destruction of the known world! > > I for one would welcome…never mind. Don’t even. Not for ha-has. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/8 "2005-05-20T02:27:38Z")
_twitch_ Between this, that, and the Bird Flu, we’re just a little tense about disease these days. The City of Toronto is making [contingency plans](http://www.toronto.ca/health/pandemicflu/index.htm) for a flu outbreak in which they expect a 35% casualty rate, or about a million people sick and off work: > [@Toronto Public Health](#): > > Based on a 15 to 35% “attack rate” and outbreak modeling, it is estimated that in Toronto 400,000 to one million people will become ill. Between 175,000 and 430,000 people will require outpatient care and some 2,000 to 12,000 people will be hospitalized. Between 1,000 and 5,000 people will die. Scary. Are we going to see mass graves in Coronation Park? SARS was a wakeup call, a real test of the health system, and perhaps did us some good by showing how vulnerable we really are. I work as a technical writer, and the world can live wothout my job for a few weeks. But what do you do when 35% of your nurses, bus drivers, truckers, and water/power/sewer workers can’t come in to work? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/9 "2005-05-28T15:30:07Z")
400 reported cases now of Marburg in Angola, over 350 deaths. Disease not under control. Why is the mainstream media ignoring this? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/10 "2005-05-28T17:16:16Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > 400 reported cases now of Marburg in Angola, over 350 deaths. Disease not under control. > > Why is the mainstream media ignoring this? Because it’s so much more exciting showing scattered body parts in Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/11 "2005-05-28T17:47:42Z")
This is seriously scary. My grandfather told me about the flu epidemic back during WWI. He was in Kansas City and described the scene of a whole troop train of soldiers coming in sick. The boarding hotel he lived at had a sickbed behind the desk, where the owner was trying to take care of a family member, the hospitals all being full. _Shudder_. That’s one old time story I sure as heck don’t want to see happen now. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-now-weve-got-an-ebola-outbreak/304649/12 "2005-05-28T17:50:59Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > This is seriously scary. My grandfather told me about the flu epidemic back during WWI. He was in Kansas City and described the scene of a whole troop train of soldiers coming in sick. The boarding hotel he lived at had a sickbed behind the desk, where the owner was trying to take care of a family member, the hospitals all being full. > > _Shudder_. That’s one old time story I sure as heck don’t want to see happen now. In the town I grew up in, during the flu epidemic the **only** doctor in the area (a little farming community outside of Columbus, OH) had to sleep in his car, along with his nurse, in the main intersection in town, so that people could find him if they needed him (telephones not being very common in the area, nor electricity, now that I think about it).